Russell Brand found guilty of rape, sexual assault
Brand faced seven charges total: three charges of rape, three charges of sexual assault and one charge of attempted indecent assault. Justice Joel Bennathan, presiding over the case in London's Southwark Crown Court, said Brand should expect a "significant" jail term.
"You've been convicted of a number of offenses, including rape," Brennathan said in court on Thursday. "The consequence of that is inevitably a significant custodial term. My current view is that I therefore have to remand you into custody."
The victims of the 51-year-old British actor shared graphic details about the incidents in which they said he sexually abused them, refusing to stop despite them not giving consent. Prosecutor David Roberts described Brand as a "predator" who used his status and power to abuse women.
"Russell Brand was predatory and used his celebrity status to commit sexual crimes," Roberts told the court. "He was a manipulator with an insatiable desire to get what he wanted, regardless of whether consent was given or not. As his career took off, he seized opportunities to assault the women around him."
Brand's attorney, Ian Winter KC, rebuked the depiction of his client, who pleaded not guilty to all charges. He also lodged criticism and the victims, claiming that "not one of them resisted" Brand's abuse.
Det. Andy Furphy lauded the accusers for their "extraordinary courage, resilience and determination" in speaking out against Brand and taking the witness stand.
"Despite intense media and public scrutiny, they relived deeply personal and traumatic experiences and placed trust in us," Furphy said in a statement. "Without their bravery, this outcome would not have been possible."
Duchess of Sussex’s estranged half-brother ‘person of interest’ in child sexual abuse inquiry
Philippine official says there are ‘signs that point to Thomas Markle Jr’s involvement in crime’, but he’s not yet being treated as a suspect
The Duchess of Sussex’s estranged half-brother, Thomas Markle Jr, has been named as a “person of interest” in the Philippine authorities’ inquiry into child sexual abuse image allegations made against her father, Thomas Markle Sr.
The country’s interior and local government secretary, Jonvic Remulla, told a press conference in Manila there were “signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well”.
He added that Markle Jr, 60, who alerted local police and the FBI to images he found in his father’s belongings, was not yet being treated as a suspect. His alleged involvement is not thought to be directly linked to the material he handed to the police.
More than 7,000 photos and one video – all of under-age males and females of Asian, Latin and European descent, with some as young as 10 and 11 – were uncovered, Remulla said.
He described the images as “the most deplorable displays of impunity towards sexual activity that I have ever seen”.
Markle Sr, 82, who is estranged from Meghan, has reportedly been moved into a care home for dementia patients in the US where he is now living.
Remulla said: “We’re determining if [the] son is involved … There are signs that point that the son is involved in the crime as well but only as a person of interest so far.”
He added: “We will know in the next few days.”
Markle Sr, who returned to the US from the Philippines in May, has admitted paying for sex in the Philippines but he has strongly denied possessing child abuse imagery, and suggested he had been “set up”. His son remains in Cebu City in the Philippines.
Remulla has previously described Markle Sr as “a possible sex offender of the grossest kind”.
Markle Jr reported his father after claiming to have found four storage boxes at his father’s home in the Philippines containing “hundreds, if not thousands” of child sex abuse images.
Chase Rice Recalls His Mom ‘Apologizing’ on Emotional Phone Call After He Spoke Publicly About Childhood Sexual Abuse
NEED TO KNOW
- Chase Rice first publicly discussed his childhood sexual abuse experience during a June 2025 podcast interview
- His mother had never heard him speak openly about the experience
- Rice says addressing the trauma has made him feel stronger and more hopeful about his future
Chase Rice is getting vulnerable about how his mother reacted to him speaking out about his experience with childhood sexual abuse.
In a new interview on the Taking Back Ocala podcast, the country singer recalled speaking about the abuse for the first time publicly in a June 2025 interview on the In the Blinds podcast — which prompted a deep mother-son conversation.
Rice recalled discussing the situation with his mom following a summer family trip to a church camp that occurred after the interview went public. “It was something we’ve been doing since we were kids, and we finally started going back now that my brothers have kids,” he said. “And she didn’t say a word about it, and I didn’t think about it. It’s just me talking to a podcast. I was just like, whatever. I’m not going to try to hide this. She didn’t say nothing.”
Rice went home that evening, and his mom asked him to call her. “And she started crying on the phone. She said, ‘I had no idea.’ She had an idea, and she knew it was a wrong part of my life and that we dealt with it the wrong way, but she’d never heard me say it,” he explained. “But man, it was weird because it was a moment where you’re talking to your mom again about this thing that you’ve been so scared to even address your whole life.”
The “Lonely If You Are” artist continued, “A lot of me went back into like, ‘Oh, s---, I’m in trouble.’ And it wasn’t that. And you know it’s not gonna be, but it was her apologizing. At the same time it’s like, ‘It wasn’t your fault, Mom.’ Stuff happened that was wrong. It’s okay. I’m facing it now.”
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Rice then spoke about how he’s found positivity from addressing the abuse. “It’s making me stronger now because if I could say no in life in the long run to a sexual addiction or drinking addiction or drug addiction, damn, nothing’s going to stop me,” he said. “Not even just saying no, but if you can beat it over time and with the right people and with Jesus, literally nothing can stop you. You’re good from that point on.”
During the June 2025 interview on In the Blinds, Rice publicly revealed his experience for the first time. “I was molested as a little kid. That’s the first time I’ve ever said that in public, and I’m okay with saying that ‘cause I went through that and relived it,” he said. “I’m like, man, I was just a kid. I had nothing to do with that. And it was really f---ing sad that that happened to me. It doesn’t define who I am now.”
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